Community Resources and Partnerships/India Rapid Project/DCW April 2025 - September 2025 Strategic Activity Plan
Applicant
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
Aafi (DCW)
- Organization
Deoband Community Wikimedia User Group
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
I'm a group leader of a Wikimedia User Group (submitted to the Affiliation Committee).
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
As described on Deoband Community Wikimedia/Roles, my work includes overseeing the overall development of the Deoband Community Wikimedia. I manage collaborations, plan and support events, and offer universal support to our volunteers and Wiki Clubs.
Project
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
DCW April 2025 - September 2025 Strategic Activity Plan
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2025-04-16 - 2025-09-30
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
India
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Not applicable
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
As a continuation to our previous programs, our major challenge revolves around advocacy, capacity and sustainable development of our affiliate and the clubs that we have helped establish. Since our inception in 2022, we have identified two significant challenges while exploring the open knowledge ecosystem. There are extensive knowledge gaps related to our theme, and participation from our community within these ecosystems remains notably low. This gap in representation perpetuates systemic biases, despite the fact that the community possesses valuable knowledge and has the potential to be leaders in these open spaces. Our surveys have found that many of our community members are often uncertain about how to engage effectively and feel uneasy navigating open spaces. We have implemented several initiatives, including our monthly open conversation hour, to support the strategic development of our affiliate, and address these challenges. More recently, we introduced our first residential leadership development program, Train a Wikipedian, to sustain our efforts in capacity-building and leadership development. We look forward to organising its second edition in August or September 2025, engaging another cohort of Wikimedians from our community. Our targeted edit-a-thons like DCW-K Editathon have played a crucial role in bridging this gap. Through our Wiki Clubs, we have achieved fair representation at the first ever Youth Conference, and continue to advocate for greater youth engagement in our ecosystem—demonstrating our commitment to community development and sustainability. In this term, we also envision the development of our Executive Board to strengthen sustainable decision-making. This is pivotal in navigating our long-term vision to address representation gaps in global Muslim academia, scholarship, history, and culture within Wikimedia projects. Our dedication remains steadfast in making a lasting impact on both knowledge and leadership within our ecosystem.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
This plan is a part of the DCW's Strategic Activity plan for April 2025 - December 2025.
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc.
My role account is at Aafi (DCW) and I work in the capacity of a Program Manager for the Deoband Community Wikimedia. My volunteer account is at Aafi which I don't use for any DCW related work. Munazza (DCW) works in the Communications Area. Her role encompasses mentoring and guiding our graphic design interns, overseeing DCW Communications, and contributing to the development of strategic initiatives to enhance outreach and engagement. Ariba (DCW) contributes as the Lead for DCW Conversation Hour. Additionally, we have graphic-interns who usually work on a term-basis. Their payment is based on the number of graphic posters they create and contribute within a given month. All of the roles associated are explained at Deoband Community Wikimedia/Roles.
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
The target participants are students, and scholars from Muslim minority institutions such as Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University, and madrasas such as Darul Uloom Deoband, among others; and our volunteers at Wiki Club Jamia, Wiki Club AMU and the Wiki Club Deoband, which we helped establish through our previous programs. Our agenda focuses on supporting these Wiki Clubs in sustaining their initiatives and actively engaging students in a variety of free knowledge activities. We plan on engaging the participants through our monthly conversation hours, productive activities such as training workshops, edit-a-thons and community meetups. We also maintain follow up communication using our private WhatsApp groups, while also fostering a sense of community through platforms such as Telegram groups. DCW effectively utilizes social media to stay connected with its members, consistently reaching out to attract new individuals into our community. We have held three editions of Mehfil-e-Wiki so far and aim to continue the initiative in a rotational format across several of our clubs.
We firmly believe that appreciation is the key to nurturing a thriving and expanding community. We value and cherish our community, recognizing the incredible dedication of our volunteers. As a token of our appreciation, we seek merchandise support from the Wikipedia Store in a timely manner that serves as another form of recognizing and honoring our dedicated volunteers.
- 9.1. If your project includes in-person activities, are there any international participants travelling to India for them? (required)
- No
- 9.1.1. List all countries of participation. (required)
- 9.2. Will the project be transferring funds to any international participants? (required)
- No
- 9.2.1. List all international participants receiving funding and their countries. (required)
N/A
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
- Yes
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
We will adhere strictly to the Wikimedia friendly space policy, WMF Youth Safety policy and the Universal Code of Conduct all through the project activities.
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
The program and its ideas have been discussed in our internal communication channels such as WhatsApp, and also through virtual meetings and discussions. We will continue improving the broader activity plan in our subsequent calls and events.
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Advocacy
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Invest in Skills and Leadership Development
Metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
Our learning priorities center on establishing and sustaining an effective Executive Board, ensuring fair representation of our community members in decision-making processes, and strengthening long-term support for our Wiki Clubs. We are also hoping to learn about the processes and methodology required in collaborating with governmental, semi-governmental, and GLAM institutions. We also want to explore the questions around the efforts required to establish and sustain knowledge-driven platforms (like our Wiki Clubs) in educational institutions and universities.Additionally, we seek to understand students' willingness to learn and share through open platforms like Wikipedia. Exploring these questions will help us design effective processes to enhance student and youth engagement in our activities.
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 50 | We are hopeful of having more than 50 participants engage in our activities online and offline. |
| Number of editors | 40 | We are hoping of making more than 40 contributors actively edit on Wikimedia projects. |
| Number of organizers | 15 | Leads and COT members of our Wiki Clubs. |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 200 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 250 |
| Wikidata | 100 |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | 50 |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
N/A
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
Yes
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| TA's | We hope to train volunteers from our community to contribute as translation admins on our projects | 3 |
| Collaborations | Collaborations for our events, campaigns and other initiatives | 3 |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
We usually use Event Metrics.
Budget
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
- 22. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in Indian Rupees. (required)
436300 INR
- 22.1. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD. (required)
4999.5 USD
- By submitting this proposal request you agree with the Institutional Partner Privacy Policy, Application Privacy Statements, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
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